


The Agreement

by Meiilan



Category: Dragon Age
Genre: Cullen living the dream tbh, M/M, Polyamory Negotiations, Starkhaven Sandwich, Threesome - M/M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-27 10:40:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18737395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meiilan/pseuds/Meiilan
Summary: Cullen is very content and happy in his relationship with Knight-Captain Rylen, but when an old crush comes to visit Skyhold, his lover has an idea that he would have never even dreamed of, let alone expected to actually work out.





	The Agreement

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cullenlovesmen (handersmyheart)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/handersmyheart/gifts).



> I basically wrote this while being sick and loopy of fever medications. So if there's any typos or mistakes, I overlooked... that's why.

“He’s really pretty from close up, isn’t he?”  
Cullen groaned, burying his face further in his arm, as it was resting on the tavern table, pointedly ignoring the snicker coming from Rylen.  
“I mean, just look at him-”  
“I don’t want to.”   
“All big blue eyes, plush lips and a smile that’d make th’ Maker cry. And he’s quite a sight from behind too. Makes a man wanna-”   
“ _Rylen_ !”   
Cullen lifted his head just to scowl at his lover warningly. Not that it was very effective with how he was blushing all the way up to his ears. Rylen just laughed good-naturedly, slinging an arm around the mortified Commander to draw him closer.   
“Aw dinna be like that, Sweet! I mean, I get you! I really do. I always just knew of him as this far away noble’s kid that got hauled off to the Chantry to avoid a scandal. But seeing him in person now… No really, I totally get why you had a crush on him.”  
“I thoroughly regret ever having told you that.”  
Rylen just laughed again, before reaching for his pint and taking a deep swig. Cullen continued to scowl, but made no move to free himself out of the man’s arm. He knew Rylen was only teasing him. It had been so long ago, after all, it almost wasn’t true anymore. When Rylen had joined the templars in Kirkwall, Prince Sebastian, who was still a humble brother of faith back then, had already joined Hawke’s group of merry misfits and thus had come to the Gallows less and less, giving Cullen the time he needed to get over his initial infatuation. It also helped a lot, that Rylen’s warm and accepting nature made it easy to fall in love with the man. And now that they were in the Inquisition - still lovers - Cullen was content to finally put that old crush of his behind himself, writing it off as just hormone-driven fever dreams fueled by the kindness with which Sebastian had treated everyone he met, including Cullen.  
That was until a letter from Starkhaven arrived, announcing the arrival of the prince in order to discuss a possible alliance.  
As soon as the news were out, Rylen wouldn’t stop teasing Cullen about it. Especially when they were alone together the Knight-Captain would attempt to rile him up by suggesting all kinds of indecencies to be shared with the prince, when he arrives. And much to Cullen’s mortification, it worked. It appeared his old crush never truly cooled down and just the thought of sharing a night with him - especially with his current lover being there as well - did all kinds of hot things to his insides.  
Still it was alright. It was just a fantasy to be shared with his lover, that was all. Or so he thought. Once Sebastian did arrive in Skyhold, Cullen was suddenly forced to deal with four arduous hours of sharing pleasantries and discussing the outlines of this promised alliance, all the while having to see the Prince of Starkhaven from up close - who totally unfairly matured absolutely perfectly - and fighting down all the naughty images about him, that Rylen had planted in his mind.  
And just when he thought the torment was finally over and he could drown his mortification in some ale shared with his lover, he had to learn that Sebastian choose the tavern of all places to reconcile with Varric and Hawke just two tables away from him. Life just wasn’t fair sometimes.  
Sebastian choose just this moment to laugh delightedly at one of Hawke’s - probably crude - jokes and _Maker_ , Cullen was so weak for his voice it wasn’t funny anymore. The fearless Commander of the Inquistion’s forces groaned unhappily, burying his burning face in the crook of Rylen’s neck, who just laughed good-naturedly and hugged him closer. The prince choose that exact moment to look over to their table. Cullen didn’t notice. But Rylen saw, how the delighted smile suddenly vanished from Sebastian’s pretty face and was replaced with something… broody? When he turned back to his companions, he was worrying his pretty lips between his teeth, blue eyes downcast. _Huh._  
Rylen emptied his pint with a thoughtful expression.

“Maybe we should invite him”, Rylen’s thoughtful voice cut through the hazy bliss Cullen was still floating on. So it took him a moment to register that the man was talking to him.  
“Who?”, he asked, idly drawing patterns on Rylen’s chest.  
“The prince, of course” he said and - already anticipating Cullen’s protest, he hurried to continue, “Nay, hear me out, Sweet! I know you’re crushin’ on him!” _Crushing_ , not crushed. So Rylen had noticed, what Sebastian’s presence did to Cullen. He groaned, suddenly feeling awful for a whole different reason. But Rylen was quick to ease his mind, always being so frighteningly sharp, when it came to reading the Commander’s moods. “Eet’s fine! Eet really is! Don’t ye worry yersel, Sweet!” His reassurance was a gentle rumble, muttered into the crown of Cullen’s head, instantly calming the waves of mortification, that had begun to well up inside of him. _What was it about Starkhaven men and having the most gentle of voices!?_  
A gentle finger under Cullen’s chin made him look up despite the blush still riding high on his cheekbones.  
“I think, you’re not the only one crushin’, Sweet.”  
Cullen’s eyes widened surprised.  
“But you only saw him once!”   
Rylen laughed at that. “Nay me, ye walnut! I mean the prince!”   
“You’re ridiculous.”   
“Am not. I swear! I saw the way he looks at ye… the way he looks at _me_ . Like, ye ken… like I stole something from him. _Someone._ ”   
Cullen tried, but failed miserably to fight down the feeling of excitement bubbling up inside his chest. Still, this couldn’t be right.   
“You’re seeing things.”   
Rylen just shook his head.   
“I dinna think so. Look, Sweet. Eet’s alright. I dinna mind, if you got a thing for the ruler of mah hometown. I mean, I get it. He’s sweet. He’s kind of gentle, aye? You like that. Maker knows, _I know_ . So I think you’d be happy, if he’d join us. _Under some conditions, of course._ ”   
Cullen shook his head in disbelief. This couldn’t really be happening. His lover of many years wasn’t truly suggesting, he should hook up with an old crush of his. He must have had too much ale this night. This must be some kind of absurd fever dream. Despite himself, Cullen found himself asking with shy apprehension: “What conditions?”   
“I get to watch”, Rylen said instantly, laughing at how quickly the burning blush returned to Cullen’s face, “Also, I’m nay givin’ you up, Sweet. If his Highness _truly_ wants a piece of my sweet tart, he better be good at sharin’.”  
Cullen huffed at the ridiculous nickname, despite the fluttery feeling it always induced in his belly. Shaking his head for the hundreds time, he muttered: “That’s all nice and all, but I still don’t think Sebastian would be interested in any of this… or in me.”  
Rylen shrugged, “How about this? I go an’ talk with his Highness about it. So if it goes south I’ll just claim it was one of mah own fanboy fantasies or what not. Let him think, you were completely oblivious to this. But trust me! I don’t think, that’ll be at all necessary.”  
Cullen just sighed. He couldn’t believe Rylen was right, but he also couldn’t help hoping that he was.  
“Don’t make me regret this.”  
Rylen’s rumbly laugh vibrated under Cullen’s fingers, when the other man kissed his forehead.  
“Ye won’t. Promised.”

Sebastian sighed, nursing the glass of whiskey in his hand with a forlorn expression. He had been looking forward to coming to Skyhold, meeting the hero’s that would be closing the breach, reuniting with Hawke and Varric. All that filled him with a sense of excitement. But even though he wouldn’t admit it out loud, he had also been looking forward to see Cullen again. Before Sebastian met Hawke, him and the former Knight-Captain had spent time together almost everytime he had been at the Gallows. He was no fool. He had of course noticed the ways, Cullen had looked at him and - if he was being honest with himself - he had quite liked it. Despite the fact that neither of them could act on this attraction between them, it felt somewhat nice to know he was being secretly desired by this man, that his own secret attraction was being reciprocated. Back then he had been too afraid to do anything about it, too scared to invoke the ire of both Elthina and Knight-Commander Meridith. But now that he was the Prince of Starkhaven-  
It seemed as if it was too late now, either way. Cullen had found someone else already and judging by how at ease he looked around the man, there really was no good reason for Sebastian to hold onto those feelings of old. None, that would have been fair to Cullen anyways.  
Watching Cullen laugh along with that Qunari, they called The Iron Bull, Sebastian took a deep sip of his whiskey-  
“Ooglin’ mah lover again, I see.”   
And promptly choked on it, coughing heavily, as he turned to look at the man - Rylen was his name, wasn’t it? - who supposedly had stolen his chance with Cullen. The man patted him hard on the back, trying to ease his coughing.  
“Easy there, yer Highness. Won’t want ye to die on me right now.”  
Blinking against the tears his coughing had forced out, Sebastian studied the man’s scarred face, trying to determine whether or not he was being sarcastic.  
“Better?”, he asked and when Sebastian nodded, he moved to sit down at his table, effectively blocking the prince’s view of Cullen. “Great. Then let’s talk now.”  
The prince cautiously put down his glass, worrying he might seriously choke on it later on. He eyed the man before him warily. He seemed far too at ease, considering the fact he had just caught Sebastian staring longingly at his lover. Or had he just been joking?  
“So, first of, it’s a real honor to be talking to you, yer Highness and I dinna mean any disrespect with this, but I noticed how ye keep pinin’ for the Commander.”  
Apparently not.  
“I have no intention to get in between the two of you, I assure you, Knight-Captain”, Sebastian hastened to clarify, trying to fight down the blush that threatened to break out on his face.  
“Good”, Rylen answered easily, his relaxed posture still being grossly at odds with the topic of their conversation, “That saves me a lot of talking about boundaries and eet’s just Rylen, please. I’m off duty.”  
Sebastian blinked confused, this man was making less and less sense to the prince and he really struggled to figure out what this was all about. Leaning forward, Rylen lowered his voice and continued, “But what do ye think about gettin’ Cullen between the two of _us_?”  
Sebastian stared at the man blankly for a moment, not quite getting what he was implying. When the penny finally dropped, he drew in a sharp breath, his face instantly feeling as if it was on fire.  
“I-I… That is-... what you are impliying, is-”  
“Entirely consensual, of course”, Rylen’s voice was way too calm in Sebastian’s opinion. Considering that this man had just suggested to share his lover with- _Oh Maker!_  
The Knight-Captain grinned knowingly, as he leaned back in his chair.  
“I see, the idea is growin’ on ye.”  
“I-I would not-... I couldn’t impose-”   
“You’re not! As I said, the whole thing would only ever happen with everyone’s enthusiastic consent, which I assure ye is definitely there on our side.”  
Sebastian felt dizzy from all the mental whiplash this man was giving him, with every new information, he was being given.  
“So you’re saying, Cul-... The Commander doesn’t m-”  
“Oh not at all! In fact, I reckon he’s quite eager about. Considerin’ he’d been crushin’ hard on you.”   
This man knew even about that and he was still fine with all this. Sebastian found it hard to believe. Eyeing the man before him, he asked carefully: “Why would ye do this?”  
Rylen simply shrugged at that. “I coulds give ye some cheesy speech about how I luv Cullen enough to only want to see him happy - which is true, dinna get me wrong - but mostly, I jist really like the idea.” The grin the man was giving him now, caused goosebumps to erupt on Sebastian’s forearms. “You’re quite a sight for sore eyes, yer Highness, I’m the last who would deny that. And knowing how weak in the knees Cullen gets for ye, I can only imagine what a sight eet would be to have ye both in mah bedroom. All I’m sayin’ is: I really don’t mind, if this becomes more of jist some imagination, if ye are willin’.”  
“And there’s no catch to eet”, Sebastian asked, still not quite trusting the whole thing.  
“Oh, there is!” Sebastian grinned grimly. Of course! Nobody would offer their lover to the prince of Starkhaven without ulterior motives-  
“You gotta be willin’ to share.”  
That was _not_ what Sebastian expected.  
“Come again?”  
“Come noo, yer Highness. I’m nae speakin’ Orlaisian, am I. Eet’s easy isn’t it. I love Cullen. You- well I dunno, if ye love him, but ye certainly _want_ him. So, of course, even if I like the idea of seeing the two of ye, I’m not entirely givin’ him up to you. Eet’s not uncommon, isn’t eet, among ye noble folks, to share a lover. And Maker knows, Cullen could certainly benefit from getting pampered by as many people, as he can get. I mean, have ye looked at him, recently? If I don’t distract him every now and again, he would go up an’ work himself under the ground in no time.”  
Despite the debaucheries this man was talking about, Sebastian could hear in the way he talked about Cullen, how deeply he cared for the man and that made this whole thing all the more appealing, oddly enough. To know, that Cullen wasn’t just handed over like a priced piece of meat, but rather that Sebastian was invited for the _sake of Cullen_ , felt reassuring in a way, Sebastian didn’t dare analyze deeper for fear of what emotions he might find at the bottom of it. Taking a deep breath, Sebastian sent a silent prayer to the Maker - asking for forgiveness and simultaneously begging for this to turn out well. The last thing he wanted, was to leave Skyhold with the feeling of regret and a bridge forever burned.  
“Very well”, he said slowly, still kind of shocked that he was actually going to agree to this, “How do ye intend to do this?”  
Rylen smiled and leaned closer again so he could lower his voice, as he laid out the finer details of his plan.


End file.
